22 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
above order in a facade 
have not a marked Co- 
lonial character, and the 
accidental and occasional 
use of an oval opening is 
quite at variance with 
actual Colonial work, 
which is especially noted 
for its formality. The 
openings are placed over 
each other and with tops 
and sills on the same hori- 
zontal line, occasional and 
accidental openings being 
carefully avoided. So much 
is this the case that it is 
not unusual to find stair- 
cases crossing openings, in 
fact the design of the ex- 
terior is never sacrificed to 
minor details of the in- 
terior, though it thoroughly announces major details. ‘This 
fact has been little appreciated in modern Colonial work, in 
which all sorts of incidental interior details are indicated on 
the outside, such as small windows for bathrooms and china 
closets, staircase windows fcllowing the run of the stairs, 
and other disturbing factors. In planning in the Colonial 
style there must be constant give and take between the plan 
and the exterior, the partitions being adjusted so that the 
windows may be arranged upon regular intervals, the in- 
terior details being accommodated to the openings, and the 
openings themselves being arranged relatively to the es- 
sentials of the plan, but sacrificing nothing to the incidentals. 
There is nothing that so destroys all quality of simplicity 
and dignity in Colonial architecture as a lack of discrimina- 
tion between broad, simple proportions and petty detail. 
The preceding remarks have applied to the mass of the 
building and its openings. The roof must necessarily be 
proportioned to the mass. It can be flat, pitched with hips, 
with or without a deck, or with gables, but requires sym- 
metry at either end of the roof. Of the pitched roofs there 
are three distinct types, i. e., the gambrel roofs with gables 
at ends, the hopper or hipped roofs, seldom more than of 
forty-five degrees 
pitch, having a ridge; 
and the hopper roofs 
with decks. An oc- 
casional hopper roof 
occurs which is pene- 
trated by an_ attic 
story at the usual line 
of the deck, but this is 
occasioned by special 
requirements and_ is 
not attractive. The 
flat roofs and deck 
roofs have often a 
balustrade. All the 
pitched roofs can 
have dormers, but it 
is to be noted that in 
the actual Colonial 
work the dormers are 
narrow and small. 
There have been no 
more abused factors 
of Colonial architec- 
ture in modern work 
than the dormers, 
Palladian motif in wrong position; dormer roofs too steep 
A well designed house with few errors 
January, 1909 
_which have been made 
wide, often with grouped 
instead of single openings 
and with little discrimina- 
tion in regard to their posi- 
tion upon the roof. It is 
not necessary that they 
should be upon the axis of 
the wall openings below, 
but they should be placed 
symmetrically upon either 
side of the central axis and 
should be kept away from 
the hips. Occasionally a 
vertical wall is built be- 
tween the dormers, giving 
additional space in the 
rooms, but this rarely oc- 
curs excepting in modern 
work. 
Next in importance are 
porticoes and porches. In the early examples columns were 
single and arranged with regular intercolumniation. The 
doubling of the columns at the ends of the portico to the 
Boston State House was considered a distinct innovation. 
Whether the order of architecture was carried through more 
than one story or not was entirely a matter of the monu- 
mental character desired, but in very few cases were there 
two distinct orders of widely different scale used. The widen- 
ing of the intercolumniation between the center columns of 
a portico was resorted to at times, but disturbed the sim- 
plicity of the facade, and the expedient of placing columns 
close to supporting pilasters at either end of an opening 
so frequent in modern work, only occurs in a few minor and 
unimportant instances. [he projection of the porticoes was 
less than the intercolumniations. The ordinary practise of 
to-day in designing so-called Colonial porches and porticoes 
is to not only project them more than the distance between 
the columns, but to double and even to treble the columns at 
the corners and to associate columns with square attenuated 
piers. The result is very confusing in proportions and 
shadows, but the worst solecism committed is where porticoes 
have no pilasters at the house wall, where the entablature 
apparently penetrates 
the building, or is 
carried by an entirely 
uncolonial bracket. 
The treatment of en- 
trances has offended 
less in modern work, 
the use of high, nar- 
row side lights with 
or without the fan 
light over the door 
apparently _ offering 
less opportunity for 
peculiar variations. It 
is not unusual, how- 
ever, to find the side 
lights too wide and 
the fan light with an 
unpleasant curve. 
The so-called three- 
centered arch is re- 
sponsible in most 
cases for the latter 
fault, an elliptical 
arch being much 
better. 
